1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape cassette, and particularly to a tape cassette including a tape reel position restricting member serving as a reinforcing member for a lower shell of the tape cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tape cassette used for a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing a data signal, a video signal or the like, has a magnetic tape wound around a pair of tape reels. Specifically, a magnetic tape is wound around a pair of tape reels with flanges by specified turns in the state that both the ends thereof are each fixed to both the tape reels, and it is rotatably contained in a cassette main body.
The magnetic tape thus wound around a pair of the tape reels runs from one tape reel to the other tape reel by way of an opening portion provided in the front surface side of the tape cassette.
In such a tape cassette, it is undesirable that a pair of the tape reels are largely moved in the cassette main body. To prevent the large movement of each tape reel, a restricting rib is provided in such a manner as to substantially surround the tape reel for restricting the movement of the tape reel within a specified range not to obstruct the rotation of the tape reel.
The restricting rib has a height being substantially the same as that of the tape cassette.
Incidentally, the magnetic tape used for such a tape cassette has transparent regions at both the end portions thereof. When the tape cassette is loaded in a recording/reproducing apparatus, a light beam emitted from a tape end detecting light source passes through the interior of the tape cassette. The end portion of the tape is detected when the light beam transmits the transparent region at the end portion of the tape.
Recently, to meet a requirement for miniaturization of a recording/reproducing apparatus, a tape cassette generally has come to be reduced in size and weight. As a result, it has become important in design to keep the strength and the accuracy of the tape cassette thus reduced in size and weight. The above attempt to keep the strength and accuracy of the tape cassette reduced in size and weight has been also required to be achieved in such a manner as not to obstruct a light path from the tape end detecting light source.